How to improve my French?

Most of us have dreamt of sitting on a table overlooking the Eiffel tower, sipping a cup of cappuccino & relishing exquisite Paris macarons at least once in life. You dream of learning French in Paris – but the reality is that you’re learning French, right in your car to work, or at home with an online course or books. And to bare it all, learning French isn’t going to be a piece of cake, especially when you’re NOT in Francophone culture, but, but, but.. it’s not impossible either! When it comes to enhancing your language learning, a positive attitude can make all the difference!! The key to improving your French, is to submerge yourself in a French environment & practise – repeat. 

1. Focus & Repeat – One Word a Day or One Phrase a Day – Repetition is the best way to remember words & phrases. Grab a dictionary & pick one word to spell, pronounce & use in sentences. Repeat the phrase the whole day. Set reminders for yourself if necessary! 

2. Ensure to read a topic that interests you in French everyday – doesn’t matter what, or how long! Womens magazines-Marie Claire & Vogue? Cook Book? Blogs? Current events? Newspapers, books such as Harry Potter, available in French! 

3. Label items in your home or office, (with definite article before the noun e.g., le miroir, not just miroir) in French so you’re forced to say the French words – aloud please! 

4. Stay connected – en français! Change the language settings on your electronic devices & social media accounts. Entertain yourself hosting a French trivia night, planning a French-only apéro (cocktail) hour, starting a Literary or Book club, or watching weekend French shows, movies or inspiring talks, with interactive subtitles that would help improve pronunciation, ability to distinguish words, sentences, tenses & clarify grammatical usage!

5. Online Chatting for Learning! – To truly learn French you must speak it. Thanks to programs like Skype & Google Talk, that help you hold a language exchange. Talk to a native French speaker for atleast 15-20 mins. Pen Email Pals! Engage yourself in Conversation Exchange Programs or join an online Meetup Group to chat(keep dictionary at bay to express better).

6. Talk to yourself in French – Admit it: sometimes you mutter to yourself..Why not in French? Pretend play – You could look up a French item list or menu online and pretend to order it in France! 

7. Show Persistence – The trick is to stick to a schedule & remember it. Sure, there will be days of low energy, attention, or progress – pep yourself up, watching your favorite French movie or some cool videos!

8. Keep yourself motivated – There are zillion ways to learn French so when one falls flat just move on to the next instead of getting frustrated! What worked for you as a beginner may not working for you as an intermediate learner! Retrospect about your learning style & what you wish from your French studies in the future. 

9. Keep a French journal/diary – You can write whatever you like in simple short sentences- weather, grocery list, a colleague, plans for the day or what you did in a day preferably in a particular tense until you get comfortable changing tenses.

10. Listen to French radio – French sounds vastly different from how it is written, so it is essential that your  home – study must includes listening French!!

11. Gift yourself custom made flashdeck cards – For gender – Colour the feminine & masculine in different colours. This trick will help you, associate a word & its article with a particular color, if you forget. For Vocabulary – Write 10 new French words with their meaning or rhyming word back to back on a card to test yourself everyday – At the end of a month, you could review all the words. You could also invite friends to play with you adding fun tasks of buying others a treat, to ensure you stick to French!

12. Listen to French music – pop, jazz, rock, or hip-hop, anything! French music provides you with natural language intonation & pronunciation, that you will have to use, when speaking French subsequently.

13. Make it Light – buy a new French game or puzzle!

14. Do not get deterred! Learn to laugh at yourself, you could meant to say something, but you accidentally say something else which sounds identical! Don’t let it deter you. Don’t be unwilling to try what you have learnt.

15. Seek and Be Receptive to Feedback – Since you don’t learn language in a bubble, chances are you’ll receive plenty of free uninvited feedback, mostly discouraging, from everywhere! Let that not deter you. Just work on fixing the problem, if any.

16. Take Everything with a Grain of Salt – Its a known fact that French are opinionated! And French tough. Put those things together & you’re sure to meet someone who’d say, you are incorrect, despite your teacher’s instructions. Don’t lose heart , remember to research what you aren’t sure about & never forget that not all feedback is good!

So with all these tips you, the future Francophone, would be able to significantly improve your French!! 

At the end of the day, always remember, your approach to learning would make all the difference!